"Forbidden" (An "Underneath: 2048" 1x1)

18 February 2048
Undisclosed location west of North Platte, Nebraska:

It was 26 degrees, there was an inch of snow on the ground, and Clara King was wearing a thin, cropped, cotton tank top and yoga shorts. And though she was trembling down deep and covered in goose flesh, the cold was the last thing on her mind.

Clara's one and only thought was Where is she?

That she was her one and only true friend, and that friend was late to the Underneath rendezvous, at a location west of North Platte that to Clara looked like the middle of nowhere. It had once been a parking lot for some business, she knew that from the old advertising signs and the big storage building nearby.

Other than that one building, barely standing it appeared, every other structure now bathed in the light of a full moon had been razed to the ground. It was probably why Alice Pierce, Clara's mother, had picked this location for the meet up of those people going to Underneath. Clara doubted that there was anyone for 50 miles of here except for the 20 or so people here now.

Her mother, Carolyn, rushed up and nagged Clara about putting her coat on. Clara resisted as she continued to scan the crowd for that one missing face. She finally flapped her hands at her mother, chastising, "You can't tell me what to do any more!"

Carolyn's face was instantly filled with an expression of hurt. After a moment, she reminded her daughter, "I can't go with you."

"Why not?"

"You know why!"

Carolyn had been suffering from a chronic lung condition for years, and even before her friend Alice had had a chance to tell her that Underneath couldn't support her medical care, Carolyn had declared that she wouldn't be going to the bunker but that her daughter would be, without her and whether she wanted to go or not!

Clara felt betrayed because her mother had convinced her to go to Underneath before telling her that she herself wasn't going. To soften the blow, Carolyn had convinced Alice to also take her daughter's best friend. It hadn't been a hard sell, of course, as both of the young women were healthy and fertile. Some day down the road they would birth wonderfully healthy children to a world which was now facing a declining human population.

As a bonus, Clara's friend was bringing her boyfriend. Well, that was a bonus for the friend, of course, but not so much for Clara. Oh, he was a nice guy and all, and he treated both girls very well. But Clara wanted her friend all to her self. She didn't need some boy stealing away valuable girl time.

"They're here! They're here!" Clara called out suddenly, scaring the daylights out of her mother who was still trying to get the shivering girl into her coat. She rushed past her mother to cross the snowy lot and throw her arms around the other similarly aged girl, crying out, "I was afraid you wouldn't come."

“Oh my god, seriously, Jake, we’re going to be late!” Emmaline Monroe groaned, smacking her hand on the hood of the car. “Clara said if we’re not there on time they’re going to leave without us. Do you really want to be stuck in this fucking place when all hell breaks loose?”

“Would you hold on for one fucking second.” Jake Harris stalked out of the dilapidated house, a canvas rucksack slung over his shoulder. He threw the bag into the backseat next to Emmie’s and flung open the driver door. “Are you getting in or what?” He grunted as the car sprung to life.

With a squeal, Emmie climbed into the rusted Camaro. The bang of a backfire echoed off the deserted street as the two took off.

Emmaline had always drawn the short end of the stick in life. Alcoholic mother, a father who gambled away every bit of money they managed to scrape together. A tale as old as time honestly. The only good to happen was growing up next to Clara, her best friend and confidant. The one whose home she escaped to when things got rough, which they did…a lot. The pair were closer than friends, they were sisters. Emmie knew she could count on Clara for anything.

Even saving her life, it seemed. When Clara had told her about the Underneath, Emmaline had been skeptical. It sounded too fantastical to be true. But Clara convinced her to join the group heading underground, she even said that Jake could come. Of course, that was probably because Clara knew there was no way that Emmaline would go anywhere without Jake.

Jake, her boyfriend and savior. They’d met in high school. Emmaline a freshman and Jake a senior. She the stereotypical good girl with a tragic past. He the epitome of the petulant bad boy with a motorcycle and a heart of gold. Their relationship was never a Romeo and Juliet type. Emmaline’s parents were so checked out they didn’t even know their daughter had a boyfriend until her pregnancy scare two years later. When they had kicked her out, Jake asked her to move in with him. Now at 18 and 22 respectively, the pair were talking marriage. Which meant there was no way in hell Emmaline was going underground without Jake.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the car pulled into the abandoned lot where the others were gathered. As she climbed out of the car, Emmie’s eyes instantly scanned for Clara as Jake got the bags.

There, flying across the lot towards her, was Clara.

"I was afraid you wouldn't come." She flung herself into Emmie’s arms and the pair hugged as if they hadn’t seen each other in ages.

“Duh, of course I was coming. Jake just wasn’t finished packing. We’re not too late are we?” Emmie stepped out of the hug and looked at her friend. “What the hell are you wearing? Aren’t you freezing?” She shrugged out of her own down jacket, leaving her in just ripped jeans and an oversized sweater, and put it around Clara. “There, much better.”

“Duh, of course I was coming,” Emmie swore. “Jake just wasn’t finished packing. We’re not too late are we?”

"No, of course not, silly, I'm still here aren't I?" Clara laughed. She smiled to Jake, then stepped over to give him a hug. It was less enthusiastic than the one shared with Emmie, but it was still meaningful. Clara would have been perfectly fine to learn that Jake had backed out, but this was okay, too. She told him with a genuinely sincere tone, "Thank you, Jake, for getting Emmie here."

“What the hell are you wearing? Aren’t you freezing?” Emmie said, looking at her friend who was dressed more for August than for February. She put Clara into her own coat, saying, “There, much better.”

Clara laughed, "But now you're gonna freeze!"

Her mother was stepping up to the trio to check on them and get them squared away for checking in with Alice. Clara snatched her coat from her mother's arms and forced Emmie into it, just as Emmie had to her. They'd done this often over the years, wearing each other's clothes, so it wasn't an unexpected act.

What Emmie might find unexpected later, though, when she checked the right pocket of Clara's coat was the cell phone Clara had forgotten was there. Oh, it was more just camera now than phone as it hadn't had service connected to it for the past third of Clara's life. But everything else about it worked, so she had kept it all these years for taking pictures, recording videos, playing games, and both dictating and then transcribing her diary.

Emmie knew all about the phone, of course. The two of them had used it as their main form of visual and audio recording for years. They had drained the battery an uncountable number of times during sleepovers in the past as they laughed and danced and sang (poorly) with one another. In a world where a girl without money had few luxuries anymore, a camera phone was like a Ferrari to someone like Clara.

And while Emmie knew all about the pictures and videos on the phone, she might be very surprised if she was to look at the albums Clara had created. One was named "Best Friends Forever" and was just images and videos of the two of them together, no biggie. Another was a little more specialized, named "My Emmie" and was images and videos of Emmaline alone.

It was the album titled "Other Stuff" that might cause Emmie to wonder about her friend if she were to open it up. It was locked with a code, but Clara had given Emmie the code to open another folder one time, not realizing she'd used the same one for both albums.

In "Other Stuff", should Emmie get curious and punch in the code, she would find all of the more risqué photos and videos the pair of them had accumulated over the years: trying on clothes, which often included partial or full nudity; skinny dipping in the only pool in their neighborhood that was still clean; skinny dipping at the creek, too; the photos and videos Clara had taken of Emmie that were intended for Jake; and last but not least, a series of pictures and videos Clara had taken of Emmie while the latter was unaware that she was being recorded, from innocent shots of Emmie simply sleeping over in Clara's bed to some, well, things that Emmie might find disturbing or erotic or both, Clara wouldn't know unless Emmie confronted her about them.

"Everyone!" a male voice called out from the other side of the parking lot. "Everyone, gather here please for final check in and instructions."

Clara turned to her mother for their goodbyes as Emmie and Jake got their bags and headed toward the man, who they would later find out was Peter, the future Head of Security of Underneath. The mother-daughter pair shared hugs, kisses, promises, and more for a couple of minutes before Carolyn finally told her daughter, "Go! Go live a good life and make me happy."

Clara was still sobbing when she caught up with Emmie and Jake. She couldn't believe that she would likely never see her mother again. She grasped Emmie's hand tightly, telling her simply, "Thank you."

They listened to Peter explain the plan. It was simple: load up in the vehicles, keeping all lights off; follow the car in front of you at a safe distance and watch for speed changes as the fuses for the brake lights of each one had been removed; if you have a problem, pull over to the side so as not to interrupt the flow of the convoy; and the trailing vehicle would tend to your problem, getting you back on the road.

"How are we driving through the night without lights?" someone asked.

"The lead car has two sets of night vision goggles," Alice explained, adding, "As does the trailing car. Trust me, with the full moon, which is why we picked tonight, you will be able to see the car in front of you, and we'll only be driving at 30 miles per hour. We're in no hurry, folks. The road between here and our destination has been scouted and is being scouted right now as we, or as I speak."

Clara, Emmie, Jake, and two other people (with all their gear and bundled food) loaded up in Jake's old car, and the convoy took off. With Jake behind the wheel and Emmie next to him, Clara leaned into her friend, holding her arm tightly, and exhausted from a long day fell asleep almost right away.

With the moon bright overhead, Emmie snuggled up against Clara, who had fallen asleep on her shoulder hours before. Crammed as they were in the front seat with Emmie in the middle of Jake and Clara, the young woman had never felt more safe and secure. They'd been given a new chance at life. A chance to survive the impending collapse of everything they knew.

The car was silent sept for the slow, rhythmic breathing of Clara and the two additional passengers. Only Emmie and Jake were still awake. But Jake was concentrating on the road ahead, his jaw clenched as he kept the car ahead of him in sight, and Emmie didn't want to disturb the sleeping passengers.

The heat in the car had never worked and Emmie's hands were freezing despite the threadbare gloves she wore. Shoving her hands into the pockets of Clara's coat, she felt her fingers brush against something smooth. Curious, she pulled out the object, smiling as she recognized the cellphone that Clara used as a camera to capture all their memories together.

Snuggling closer to Clara, Emmie turned down the brightness of the phone as she opened it up to look through the pictures. The girls were together so often that the phone was filled with hundreds of silly photos and videos. She scrolled through them slowly, smiling as she recalled the memories of each one.

As she scrolled through the albums, Emmie paused when she came across a locked album.

Well color me intrigued, she thought, pushing her glasses up her nose. Her finger paused over the album. If Clara had thought to lock it, it must be pretty important to her. Emmie was the only other person who had access to Clara's phone, and if she wanted to keep something private who was Emmie to go against that?

Curiosity had always been Emmie's downfall, though. She was a snoop by nature and her finger itched to try and unlock that album. Glancing at Clara to make sure she was still asleep, Emmie typed in the only password that she knew. Miraculously, the album opened and Emmie's eyes widened as she scrolled through all the candid photos of herself.

There were risqué photos for Jake that she'd had Clara help her with. Photos of her sleeping at Clara's house. Videos of her changing and trying on clothes. And...oh god, how did Clara have that video?

Not too long ago, Emmie had borrowed Clara's phone to make a video for Jake. She could have sworn she deleted it from the phone after sending it, but there it was. Making sure the sound was off on the phone, Emmie pressed play, she had to make sure it was the video she thought it was. Oh yes, sure enough, the image of herself, naked appeared on the screen. Her hands caressing her body, moving down between her legs, pleasuring herself and cumming. Though the audio was off, Emmie knew that the video was full of her moaning and begging for more, crying out as the pleasure took over.

Emmie looked down at her sleeping friend. Why had Clara kept this? Why did she have any of these photos and videos?

Biting her lip, Emmie turned the phone off and shoved it back in the coat pocket. She needed to think. There was no way she could simply come out and ask Clara about this. No, she needed to wait and process and figure this out.

Clara awoke with a start and to a sense of deep confusion. It took her a moment to realize where she was: in a now once again stopped car, crossing the Nebraska plateau in the dead of a snowy, wintry night, in a flight from a crumbling civilization.

She might have panicked and maybe even cried out in despair if it wasn't for the second half of where where was: in her best friend's lap, cuddled close to her, feeling the warmth and comfort of the beautiful, young woman's body against her.

Somehow without ever having fully regained consciousness, Clara had shifted against Emmie to reposition herself, first from leaning against her friend's shoulder to laying face forward in her lap to, now, laying turned totally around so that her face was pressed into Emmie's belly, her legs curled up almost fetal position with her knees against the front of the seat. Her right arm was bent up against her own bosom, and her left arm was wrapped around the waist of her friend, who had herself leaned toward the door and apparently fallen asleep.

Clara looked up into the beauty's face for the longest time as muted, distant voices outside the car talked about a possible danger on the road up ahead. You're so beautiful, she thought of her childhood friend. So perfect

She couldn't pinpoint the day or even the month when her love for Emmie as a friend had become so much more than just that. But one day as she was fondling her clitoris, as she often did while imagining one of the hot boys from the neighborhood licking her as she'd seen in her father's dirty magazines, Clara realized that she was imagining Emmie's mouth down there on her sensitive folds and nub.

And something about that fantasy had been enough to cause Clara to drive herself to orgasm for the first time in her life. She'd initially felt so, so, dirty! How could she imagine her best friend doing that to her? Good girls didn't imagine their best friend doing that kind of thing to them. Did they?

And yet, over the days and weeks and months to come, Clara came to realize that all she wanted in life was to lay with Emmaline, to hold her, to kiss her, to caress her, to grope her, and to cause her the same pleasure that Emmie had caused her in that and the dozens of fantasy fingerings to come.

Clara these days more often than not masturbated to the video she'd made of her friend touching her own pussy months earlier. She'd been so fortunate to find the video still cached in the Trash Folder where Emmie had put it, not knowing that permanent deletion only happened 30 days later or when the folder reached a certain gigabyte size. Clara had, of course, saved it to her not-so-secure album that Emmie had of course just found.

She snuggled up tighter to Emmie as the cars once began moving once more, and after she'd fallen asleep a second time, Clara awoke again to being told there were there. Playfully struggling to rise from her friend's lap, Clara felt their respective bosoms press against one another for a quick moment, and looking into Emmie's eyes, she thought she saw something in them that hadn't been there before, maybe a bit of knowing, as if Emmie had a new secret.

"What?" Clara whispered, smiling. But before Emmie could say anything, the car doors were flying open and people all about were hurrying about and telling the girls to get to it. Clara pulled Emmie against her in a hug, then before she jumped out whispered, "I love you."

Looking about, Clara was a bit disappointed at what she was seeing. It was just lightly rolling hills of yet more Nebraska plateau, a wasteland caused by the most recent dust bowl that stretched as far as the eye could see. There were some scattered trees here and there and a great deal of scrub shrubs that reminded her of the bushes that became tumbleweed when the wind tore them from the ground. About a quarter mile away there was a scraggly forest of 50 acres, more maybe though Clara couldn't tell from here.

Between the convoy and the forest, a good hundred or more yards away was a seemingly abandoned concrete building surrounding by dilapidated fencing. There was a radio tower, crumpled and rusting, laying on the ground beside it which led Clara to believe that the structure must have been the base and home to its electronics. That was, of course, the ruse the original designer had desired, a man named Howard Lender. The building was maybe 30x20x10 feet high, and although it had small surveillance holes from which those inside could look out, from here to Clara it looked to be just a big solid block of concrete.

"This is paradise?" she murmured as Emmie stepped up next to her. She studied her friend again and was sure something was happening inside her best friend's brain. Clara peeked back to Jake as he was unloading the car, then looked to Emmie again and whispered, "You're already wondering where the two of you are going to get busy, aren't you?"

(OOC: Sorry it's so long. I just couldn't help myself.)

Emmaline was confused. Confused by the abandoned appearance of their destination. Confused by what she had seen on Clara’s phone. Confused by the “I love you” Clara had whispered as they stumbled from the car on limbs numbed by hours cramped together.

She looked around, trying to decipher what she was seeing. The scraggly overgrowth of the plants surrounding a concrete building, the barren area around them. It was all too horror movie for Emmaline. What had they signed up for?

“This is paradise?” She heard Clara mutter. Behind them, Jake was helping the others unload the caravan. “You’re already wondering w here the two of you are going to get busy, aren’t you?”

She glanced over at Clara, one eyebrow quirked. What had prompted that question? Was she jealous of Emmie? Or jealous of Jake? Emmie wished she could see into her friend’s mind, just this once, and know what was behind the photos and videos.

Shaking her head, Emmie forced a teasing grin, “Hardly. I just want to know when the zombies are coming for our brains?”




Thankfully, no zombies were coming for their brains and the outward appearance of their new home was merely camouflage. After unloading the caravan, the group had descended into the Underneath and, though it was no five-star resort, it was a far more welcoming home than the one Emmie had left behind.

Squealing, she fell back onto the bed. Having carried Emmie across the threshold of their little apartment, Jake had tossed her onto the bare mattress. As they were a couple, Emmie and Jake had been given one of a handful of family bunks. Though it was simply a room with a half bath, Emmie knew she could make it into a home for them with a few little touches here and there.

As Jake climbed onto the bed, his lips finding hers in a heated kiss, Emmie couldn’t help but wonder how Clara was faring in the women’s berth. It didn’t seem right that Emmie had this whole place to herself while Clara – who was the sole reason Emmaline was even in Underneath – was to have a bunk with all the other single women. But as Jake kissed his way down her throat, his hands sliding up under her shirt, Emmie abandoned any thought of Clara and gave herself over to her boyfriend and his talented fingers.




Freshly showered and changed, Emmie made her way to the Women’s Berth. Wandering inside, she looked around, trying to find Clara. Several of the women were still unpacking their things and it took a moment for Emmie to spot her friend.

“Knock, knock.” She said, tapping on the bunk post as she approached. “Thought I’d come and check on you. See how you’re settling in.”

Clara couldn't help but recall her friend's zombie comment as they descended into the bunker. Underneath looked like it was right out of a couple of dozen zombie and other post-apocalyptic genre movies she'd seen during her short life.

And she was very surprised to find the place looking as if this group was the first to have ever lived here. Clara didn't know the whole, entire story about the group of people Howard Lender had brought here 25 years ago, but the fact was that they'd been here for 25 years.

As she descended from the ground down through the stairwells and got a peak at the foyer area beyond each level's doors, Clara was surprised at the lack of personalization to the place. The walls (or bulkheads?) were, for the most part, all still painted in simple, solid colors with no comforting decorations or trims or murals or whatever! It was like the construction crew had painted everything and left and for 25 years no one picked up a paint brush again.

Like Emmie, Clara hadn't expected a five star resort, but, c'm'on! This was just ridiculous. Everything was so official and arranged, with nothing out of place or positioned to add ambiance or comfort.

No wonder there's no one left alive here, she thought as they reached the berthing areas and she saw the perfectly aligned rows of double rack bunkbeds and lockers with no stickers or notes or photographs or any form of decorations on them. They musta died of boredom, IF they were ever even here in the first place.

Of course, there had been people here, something Clara and the newcomers would learn over the next hours, days, weeks, and months. They would learn that almost all of the food had been eaten. They would find barrels that had once been filled with food, water, or other supplies now filled with the clothing and personal items of the long dead tenants of Underneath, deposited there by the first group's survivors as one by one the population declined.

"Gather up around me, please," Alice Pierce, the leader of this adventure called out when they'd reached what she identified as Level 4. "I need you all to separate into ?? groups so we can figure out where ya'll are going to sleep. Please be aware, these assignments are not permanent. We just need everyone to find a bed and a place to put their things for now, and we can change things around later if need be."

Alice began splitting the group up, based upon the need for family-like housing with a bit of privacy versus individual sleeping arrangements with none at all. The married couples with kids were to be assigned one of the rooms on this level first, then the single parents with kids, and finally the married couples without kids who, Alice quipped with a wink and a smile, "Hopefully will do their best to solve the no kids yet problem."

The single people were going to be housed downstairs in the dormitory style bunk room. When she saw it, it would make Clara's eyes glaze over, reminding her of one horrible month she'd spent in an Army barracks after a horrific tornado ripped through North Platte, destroying her family home.

Clara wasn't going to let this get her down, though. At least she would have Emmie close by, maybe in the bunk above or below her. No. Jake. He'd probably be in the over/under bunk. Or would he want to be on the same level as her for their night time kissy kissy sleep tight sweet nothings? Or, despite the small size of the beds, would he want to sleep with her, cuddled up tight in a gross spooning position with his cock pressed into the crevice of her young, firm ass.

Eww. Bad enough I've had to see that out in the world, but now here, where I won't be able to get away from it?

Then, Clara's world imploded!

"Looks like we have two extra Family Rooms on this level," their fearless leader announced as the singles, including Clara, Emmie, and Jake were about to descend one more floor. "We'll keep one open for now for flexibility, but ... Emmaline Monroe, Jake Harris. You're registered as a couple, so, FR#3 is yours."

Clara's heart skipped a beat in horror! It was bad enough that she had to share Emmie with Jake for the rest of their lives, but now the couple were going to have their own, private bedroom where they could fuck at will, which Clara knew would be all day, every day, and Clara herself wouldn't even be on the same level as the person who meant everything in the world to her.

<<<<< +++ >>>>>​

While her friend was getting finger fucked upstairs, Clara set about trying to make a home on Level 5. Some of the older women had pointed out that there were twice as many bunk bed sets as their were women, so they might as well each claim two. Some of the women only wanted to sleep after the exhausting night time ride, and they plopped down into a lower bunk.

Others though, including Clara, wanted to begin on their new lives right away. They began scrounging through the crates, shelves, and bags of bedding and other resources along one wall. A woman named Kimmie came up with some ideas, and a handful of women went to work moving bunks and shelf units all about the floor.

By the time they were through, Clara was feeling less distraught about not having her bestie living side by side with her. Kimmie had helped her create a bedroom of sorts. They'd turned one of the bunkbeds 90 degrees to the other, moved it to the left, and placed a 6 foot tall locker/shelf unit near the head ends of them to create an "L" shape. Hanging blankets on the outsides of those two bunks, Clara had the first two walls to her new home.

They created the other two walls by putting yet another locker/shelf unit where the foot of the moved bed used to be, then hung blankets between the foot ends of the beds and the locker. Voila! Four walls, two doors, storage space, and after they removed the mattresses on the three beds that were not going to be used, Clara had even more space for whatever she might accumulate in the future. (Simple image)

But when Clara took a moment to look around her new apartment, she realized how lonely and sad it looked. Oh, she'd pretty it up with decorations and such. But while that would satisfy the aesthetics, it did nothing for the lonely part. She found Kimmie again and asked a favor, and by the time Emmie showed up to say Knock, knock, the second lower bunk had a mattress returned to it and it was freshly made up, should her friend ever need a place to sleep other than with her boyfriend.

“Thought I’d come and check on you. See how you’re settling in.”

Clara hopped up off her bed, hurried forth, and threw her arms around Emmie's torso in a tight hug. She held her friend in silence for a long moment before practically sobbing out, "I want you to sleep with me, Em'."

Whether she'd meant it to sound sexually or not, Clara didn't really know. But she did realize immediately how it had come out, and pulling her face back to look up into her friend's eyes, she reluctantly clarified, "I mean, I want you to sleep here, in my room, with me."

She backed away a step, looking like a kicked puppy. "I miss you already."

Emmie caught herself as she started to fall back under the force of Clara flinging herself at Emmie. Clara’s arms wrapped around her in a tight hug that Emmie returned with a grin. This felt familiar.

“I want you to sleep with me, Em.”

Okay, that was different. Emmaline bit her lip, not wanting to say anything, hoping she had misheard.

"I mean, I want you to sleep here, in my room, with me." The words were said quickly, as if realizing how it must sound to Emmie.

“You know I’m living with Jake.” She forced a teasing laugh. “I can’t just abandon him. And I don’t think you exactly want to be sharing a room with the two of us.”

“I miss you already.” Clara pouted, reminding Emmie of a scolded puppy.

“You literally saw me a couple hours ago.” Emmie laughed, running a hand through her still damp hair. “Besides, it’s not like we’re never going to see each other. We’ll be together all the time except for when we go to sleep. And don’t worry, we’ll still have our sleepovers. I’ll need a break from Jake every so often.”

Emmie sat down on the fresh made bed, leaning back on her elbows as she looked up at Clara.

“Hey…um…there’s something I want to ask you about…” Emmie pulled Clara’s phone from the pocket of her jeans. She’d been thinking about this for the past few hours, trying to figure out whether to question Clara about the mystery album or not. It hadn’t been an easy decision, but Emmie was a rip-the-bandaid-off type person.

“I found this in your coat pocket while we were in the car and I was looking through some of our old pictures…” she paused, how did she want to say this? “I saw this one album and…well…Clara why do you have those pictures of me? And that video?”

“You know I’m living with Jake.”

The other girl's statement caused Clara's stomach to turn over. Emmie and Jake had been boyfriend-girlfriend for a long time, of course, and they'd been lover for a good portion of that at well. This was nothing new to Clara. But to hear Emmie say they were officially living together was painful.

“I can’t just abandon him. And I don’t think you exactly want to be sharing a room with the two of us.”

Clara couldn't help but let out a relieved laugh. The couple's PDAs had been bad enough, but to actually hear and even see them fucking up close would have seen Clara running Underneath's exit, right into the hands of a band of cannibals.

She talked about how they'd still see each other great deal and even have sleep overs. But Clara doubted that her idea of still seeing each was the same as Emmie's. Still, Clara had to give the love birds their space. It was the fair think to do. If Clara ever found a boyfriend, she probably wouldn't want Emmie hanging around all the time either.

Then, Emmie pulled out the phone.

Clara's initial reaction was one of absolute joy. She knew she'd brought the phone with her as she'd been taking pictures with it at the North Platte rendezvous. She'd panicked when she couldn't find it though, forgetting that the last time she'd had it was when she was wearing her own coat, not Emmie's, as she was when they entered Underneath.

Then, Emmie said, “I saw this one album and…well…Clara why do you have those pictures of me? And that video?”

Clara's stomach rolled over so dramatically that her entire body tensed up, and a moment later her eyes glazed over with threatening tears. She had no way of explaining this. The pictures maybe. No. No, not the pictures. So what did that say about keeping the video of Emmie masturbating in the middle of the bed? Girls weren't supposed to save things like that of their best girl friend, were they?

Clara could have launched into chastising Emmie for violating her privacy, by using her private password to get into her private album on her private phone. But honestly, Clara had never kept anything on the phone private from Emmie in the past. It was almost as much her friend's phone as it was her own.

And while she wasn't thinking it now, later Clara would ask herself if maybe she hadn't wanted Emmie to find the pictures and that video. After all, she was pretty good with hiding folders on the phone. She'd been keeping things from her mother on it for years, even when her angry mother demanded to look through it, finding nothing at all. Clara could have hidden the photo album in any number of files designated for text, video, chat, games, or other apps, making it almost impossible for anyone, particularly Emmie, to find.

So why hadn't she? Well, that was a question for another day. Right now, though, the question from Emmie could have been translated as what the fuck? and Clara simply didn't have an answer for it.

She shrugged.

It was all she could manage.

A shrug. Was that all the response that Emmie was going to get?

She'd always known that Clara had a hard time accepting the fact that Emmie was with Jake. Her friend had made no secret of her displeasure when Emmie had had to cancel or change plans or when she couldn't hang out with Clara because she and Jake had already made plans. She just didn't realize that there may have been something more to it than simple jealousy.

Sitting up, Emmaline took Clara's hand in hers, bringing the girl down onto the bed with her so that they could sit and face each other eye-to-eye. Still holding Clara's hand, Emmie squeezed it gently, trying to reassure her friend.

"Clara, please don't feel like you need to hide things from me. We've been friends for eighteen years, we tell each other everything. If there's something going on, you can tell me. I won't judge." Emmiie said quietly, trying to keep her voice low so as not to disturb the other women in the room.

"You've been there for me through all the shit with my parents. And you've been my rock whenever Jake and I had troubles. Hell, you're the only reason that I'm even safe down here in the first place. So, if there's something bothering you, you know you can tell me. I promise I won't judge you or think differently about you."

Throughout the years there had been signs that made Emmie wonder if maybe Clara's feelings for her went beyond friendship. Hugs that lasted longer than necessary, little looks that Clara didn't know Emmie saw, cuddling up close in bed together during sleepovers. Looking back on it, Emmie felt stupid for not realizing sooner. But still, she needed to hear it from Clara's lips.

"Clara, please don't feel like you need to hide things from me," Emmie said, trying to reassure her friend.

But that wasn't true, was it? How was Clara supposed to tell her best friend, her only friend, that she didn't only love her as a friend but lusted for her as well. How could Clara tell her that when she didn't even truly understand lust. Clara had no knowledge of or experience with lesbian love, lust, or sex. Hell, she didn't even understand that she was a lesbian!

Actually, was she a lesbian? She lusted for Emmie, and Emmie was a girl. But she'd never lusted for another girl other than Emmie, not once. Oh, she eye balled other girls sometimes to admire their clothing or to compare their curves to her lack of curves.

(Actually, Clara had over the past two years or so developed a nice pair of B-cup titties. But she'd developed so late compared to so many other girls, including Emmie, and in her mind Clara more often than not still thought of herself as that flat chested boy that the guys used to tease her about being.)

Emmie talked about their life long friendship and about all that Clara had meant to her. Clara said in a meek voice, "You're my best friend, too, Em'."

The other teen finished, "So, if there's something bothering you, you know you can tell me. I promise I won't judge you or think differently about you."

And before Clara even realized what she'd done, she'd licked her lips and leaned in quickly to give Emmie a quick, soft, warm kiss on the lips before pulling back suddenly and staring down at her lap.

Oh my God, I can't believe you did that! Clara's brain was screaming at her. The two girls had been close all their lives and they'd spend a lot of time in one another presence scantily dressed or not dressed at all and they'd slept in one another's arms during sleep overs though those embraces had always been innocent, well, with the exception of the fantasies running rampant within Clara's hungry mind.

But never before this moment, despite the thousands of hugs and kisses on the cheeks, had Clara's lips ever found Emmie's. Almost as fast as it had happened, a chill ran up her spine and caused her fair skin to explode in goose flesh.

There was a distinct difference between a girl's lips and a man's. While Jake's lips were hard and demanding - filling Emmaline with a passionate heat - Clara's were soft and slick with her favorite lip gloss.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to send Emmie's heart pounding. Her cheeks flushed as Clara pulled away quickly.

Neither spoke, the private bunk area thick with things unspoken. Emmie looked anywhere but at Clara, unsure of what to say. She studied a loose thread on the blanket beneath her.

Clara was her best friend and she always would be. One little kiss couldn't change that. And yet...Emmie felt something shifting between them. Her mind reimagining all the interactions they'd ever had, seeing them through different eyes. She remembered back to a game of truth or dare played with a handful of girls from their school back during Clara's thirteenth birthday party. The friends had laughed it off when one of the girls dared them to kiss. Had Clara been about to say yes if Emmie hadn't said a quick no? There had been a brief second when Emmie wanted to say yes, but at that point the thought of kissing anybody (boy or girl) had been embarrassing. She hadn't kissed anybody yet and the thought that she might be bad at it had made her utter a quick and definitive "no way!"

Now, though, she wondered what would have happened if she had done it. Would she have ever been with Jake? Would she and Clara have ended up together as more than friends? Or would it have just been another funny memory for the two?

Looking at Clara, who refused to look up from her lap, Emmie knew that she had to do something. If she didn't, there was a good chance that Clara would avoid her out of embarrassment and that could spell the end of their friendship. Pity welled in her. She didn't want to hurt Clara. She didn't want things to change between them. But something was different now that she knew the true depth of her friend's feelings.

Acting on impulse, Emmie cupped Clara's chin with her hand, pulling her face back up to look and forcing her to meet her gaze. Without a word, she bridged the gap between them and pressed her lips to Clara's. The kiss was soft and warm. Gentle. Emmie's hand slid to the back of Clara's neck, her fingers threading in the soft, red hair as she pushed the kiss further. Her tongue brushed against Clara's lower lip, seeking entrance.

Clara was certain that she had just destroyed the greatest friendship she'd ever had. And yet, after a few seconds of wondering how she would ever go on, Emmie lifted her face and reenacted the kiss, only this time to a much greater and much more passionate degree.

Emmie couldn't know this, because she had lied to her about it for years, but Clara had never kissed anyone before. Ever! Not until just moments ago when she'd leaned in and pressed her lips to her best friend's.

Clara couldn't believe first that Emmie was doing this to her, with her. And she couldn't believe how unbelievably magical it felt. Emmie pulled Clara's face to hers with hands to her head, and almost instinctively Clara reached her own hands to Emmie's rib cage to hold onto her friend, as if afraid she might withdraw too quickly, which, actually, would have been ever

She knew she didn't want this to ever end as soon as it started. The fell of Emmie's warm lips and the gentle probing of her wet tongue were unimaginable, and Clara had imagined kissing Emmie a million and one times. She didn't know what she was doing, of course, so she simply mimicked what her friend was doing as best she could

Then she giggled. A chill had run up Clara's spine, and every square inch of her body seemed to explode in goose flesh an instant later. She pulled her mouth back, not intentionally, looked into Emmie's eyes, and apologized softly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. I just..."

She didn't know what to say. Clara was at this moment happier than she'd ever been in her life, and she didn't know how to explain that in words. Instead she only whispered, "Can we do that again?"

Emmaline could feel the hesitation in Clara's kiss, as if she were uncertain of what she was doing. Though the two had often swapped dating stories and details of their first kisses, Emmie had often wondered if Clara was telling the truth. The story had a habit of shifting any time Clara told it, little details changing here and there that just didn't add up. The careful way that she mimicked Emmie's kiss was yet another clue to the young woman that, perhaps, this was her friend's true first kiss.

Emmie was close to pulling away - this shouldn't be how Clara got her first kiss, from a confused friend who wasn't sure if she wanted more - when she felt Clara's hands on her sides, holding her close. The feel of those hands, soft and unsure, drove Emmie to deepen the kiss further. With fingers threaded through Clara's hair, Emmie gently pulled her friend's head back, allowing her to deepen the kiss.

Her body was on fire with a passion she hadn't felt in a long time. She wanted more. She wanted to strip Clara naked, to feel naked skin against naked skin. She began to shift, moving so that she could push Clara down onto the bed, but something stopped her.

A giggle. Then Clara pulling away.

It was enough to dissipate the haze of lust surrounding Emmie and she moved away, confused. Her hands fell to her sides, still tingling and begging to feel more of Clara.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. I just....Can we do that again?" Clara's words were soft and unsure.

Emmie wanted nothing more than to do it again. But something kept her from bridging the gap between them.

"I..." Her stomach twisted. What had she just done? She had cheated on Jake with Clara. She had kissed someone else when she was madly in love with her boyfriend. She had kissed her best friend!

"I should go." She said, adjusting her glasses as she stood quickly. "I didn't mean to...I wasn't planning to..." Her mind whirled in circles, refusing to form a coherent thought. Emmie couldn't look at Clara, too ashamed of what she had just done. She wasn't even attracted to girl for fuck's sake!

"I'm sorry. Don't hate me." She whispered as she moved to leave the bunk.

"I ... I should go ... I didn't mean to...I wasn't planning to..."

Clara's stomach rolled over as she quickly realized that Emmie thought or more likely knew that she'd made a mistake.

"I'm sorry," Emmie continued, standing to leave. "Don't hate me."

And like that, the other girl was gone. And Clara was once again sitting there in her new home, alone, mouth hanging open in shock and confusion. And devastation, of course. Emmie didn't want Clara in the way the latter wanted the former. It was that simple.

Well, maybe not simple as Clara still didn't know exactly how she wanted Emmie. She wanted the dark haired, bespectacled beauty to be her girlfriend, not just her friend who was a girl. But Clara's ignorance and innocence could fill the entire bunker is revealed to the others living in it.

All Clara knew was that that kiss she had just shared with her forever friend had been the most exciting and more erotic thing to ever happen to her, and now she was absolutely crushed because it would be the last kiss the two ever shared.

Clara tried not to think about it as she rose to change into her sleeping clothes. It wasn't bedtime or was it? She had no idea what time of the day it actually was, and she certainly couldn't go to a window and look out. Once changed, she slipped into her new bed, contemplated what had just happened, and then quietly cried herself to sleep.

That night, as she lay in bed with Jake's face buried between her legs, Emmie couldn't stop thinking about her kiss with Clara. There had been something there, something that Emmie was afraid to look at too closely lest it lead to something that Emmie wasn't ready for.

Closing her eyes, Emmie's hips rose to meet the steady swipe of Jake's tongue. With her legs hooked over his shoulders, her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer, Emmie gave herself over to the feelings building inside her.

"Oh god," she gasped, her breath catching as her body started to shake. "I'm going to cum." The tongue on her pussy traced her clit in slow, sensual circles while a finger steadily worked her wet sex. "That's it! Yes!" Her hips bucked wildly, her pussy clenching tight around the digit inside her.

With her eyes closed, it wasn't Jake between Emmie's legs. As her orgasm washed over her, Emmie imagined it was Clara bringing her to ecstasy.

Emmie fell asleep that night satisfied and even more confused than she had been before.




The next morning brought an orientation meeting in the Saloon. Emmie walked into the Saloon, her hand in Jake's and her eyes searching for Clara. She was nervous to see her friend after what had happened, but even more nervous about the feelings it stirred inside her. What would she say when she saw Clara? Would her friend even want to speak with her?

"There's some seats over there." Jake nodded towards an empty table near the back of the room and Emmie followed him as he wove through the small group. He pulled a seat out for her and Emmie sat, her eyes still moving through the unfamiliar faces for the one she did know.

Finally, she spotted Clara wandering in with another woman from the Women's Berth. Before she could make a decision about what to do, Jake was waving Clara over to join them.

Clara was even more nervous than was Emmie about how they react to one another at orientation. She'd almost skipped it, but one of the other ladies in Women's Berthing told her it was mandatory and "You don't want to get on Alice Pierce's bad side the first day."

When Jake waved her over, Clara hesitated. But as soon as she met eyes with Emmie, she started forward again. They'd been friends since they were in diapers. Last night had been traumatic, but Clara wasn't going to let it destroy what they had.

"Hi guys," she said softly as she sat. They chatted about their respective berthing assignments a moment, but all it did was remind Clara of Emmie kissing her on her bed. She changed the subject with, "One of the girls is going to show me how to cut and sew the blankets I used as curtains, to make them pretty and more functional."

"Okay, let's get this started," Alice Pierce called out as she mounted the stage at one end of what Clara had learned was called the Saloon. "We're going to talk about the bunker and its facilities first. Most of you already know that it was originally called Underneath, and I don't see any reason to change that, so."

Alice had two people begin handing out orientation packets. They reminded Clara of the folders she'd been given both when she'd started high school and when she went to a summer camp her junior year. For an hour they talked about one aspect of the bunker after another, then took a 5 minute break, then started up again with more.

Each break, Clara wanted so badly to speak with Emmie about what had happened. But she just didn't know how to start the conversation, so each break she either jumped into a talk with someone else, went to Alice to ask questions, or snuck away to the bathroom or center of the Level, the foyer they called it, just to put distance between them.

At 10 am, Alice divided the women from the men, putting the latter with her right had man, Bryan Breik, who was going to be Underneath's Head of Security. Bryan took the males to Men's Berthing while Alice led the females to Women's.

"Some of you women are in the Family Rooms upstairs, I know," Alice told them, "but it will be good for you to know about what's on this level as well."

She talked about the sleeping areas, the tables, plush chairs, and couches in the corners that were for quiet activities, the Locker Rooms, and the Hygiene Room. Then, she took them up to the Family Room area, down a hall, and into a small room.

"This is called a Meeting Room," she explained about the room that looked very much like a cheap motel room from the pre-Collapse period that in the big cities had had an hourly rate. She chuckled a bit before saying, "When I use the word Meeting, I'm not talking about conferences, obviously. The people who lived in Underneath before us had a nickname for these 4 compartments. Fuck'n'suck rooms."

There was some giggling, lewd comments, and even some looks of discomfort and shame for even being in one of the sex rooms. Clara was quiet and without reaction, a bit embarrassed herself.

"Remember that old saying, What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?" she asked, leading to some more laughs. She explained how each room had 2 doors and control pads out in a distant hallway, "So that you can electronically reserve a room without anyone looking over your shoulder, while you and your man enter inconspicuously from opposite hallways. Girls, I have to tell you, Underneath isn't going to be a happy place if we don't all show each other some courtesy, so, don't be spying on whose fucking whom and how often, please."

There was so more laughter and more blushes, then Alice said something that hit close to home for Clara. She simply said, "And yes, you girls who prefer other girls..."

She didn't have to finish what she was saying. Most of the women here already knew that Alice had had a long lasting relationship with Mimi Rollins, who was at this moment standing in the back of the crowd smiling like Sylvester with Tweety Bird in his mouth.

And as soon as Clara had realized what Alice was telling them, she'd immediately looked to Emmie, who was standing in clear view of her on the opposite side of the crown of a dozen women. Clara blushed a fiery red at the sudden and powerful image of her and Emmie tapping in their security codes to access this room, take off their clothes, and do things two girls weren't supposed to do with one another, at least according to Clara's very conservative mother.

Since the start of their relationship, Jake had often joked about how it was every guys’ dream to have two girls in bed at once. When he and Emmaline became intimate, she learned that the best way to get him hard and make him cum was to talk dirty about all the things she would do with another girl while he watched or what the pair would do to him. As their relationship progressed, so, too, did Jake’s fantasy.

It was three months before their move to Underneath and Emmie was riding his cock slowly, her hips undulating as she moved up and down. His hands dug into her hips and Emmie knew he was close. She started detailing his favorite fantasy, telling him all the filthy ways she would use him with another woman. Normally she would choose someone random, a stranger they had seen or an old schoolmate. But that night, as he thrust up inside her, Jake told her he wanted to picture her and Clara together. The request had given her pause, she went still for a second, barely long enough for Jake to notice. And then Emmaline was detailing how she would eat Clara’s pussy, how she would love her face buried between her friend’s legs as Jake took Emmie from behind. He came inside her within seconds and, from that day, Jake had a new fantasy.

Emmie didn’t want to admit it, but the fantasy turned her on too. She would never actually do anything with Clara, it would ruin the friendship. Besides, Emmie wasn’t actually into girls…right? But the fantasy was fun and it got both her and Jake off. So where was the harm in that?

But as she stood in the Meeting Room, listening to Alice detail its actual purpose, she looked towards Clara across the room and found her friend looking back at her. Emmie didn’t look away, she didn’t want to. As the other women filed out, Emmie made her way over to Clara.

“Hey, can we talk?” She asked quietly. They were alone now, everyone else having left to finish the tour with Alice. “About yesterday...” She paused, looking down at her feet. “I’m sorry for leaving so quickly. I just…I kinda freaked out. I don’t want things to be weird between us.”

She looked up, meeting Clara’s gaze.

“I wasn’t thinking and I was confused and…I’m with Jake, Clara. But you’re my best friend and I love you.” Emmie felt herself moving closer, closing the little distance between them. “I don’t regret it, though.” She added in a whisper. “I don’t regret it at all.” She reached up, brushing a strand of hair behind Clara’s ear. “What…what are you thinking?”

Clara was trembling deep down inside as her friend came close and began talking to her. She was so confused, about what had happened, about the future of their friendship, about how she was supposed to deal with the lust that was overwhelming her seemingly every waking moment.

“What…what are you thinking?” Emmie asked.

Without hesitation, Clara moved in to take her best friend into a tight hug. After a moment, she practically sobbed, "I love you, Emmie, and you're my best friend, and I want things to be like there were before, please!"

She didn't, actually. Clara wanted to get naked with Emmie and enjoy pleasures that she'd only ever imagined or heard of or seen being partaken of by others. Even now, she realized that she was more conscious of the feel of Emmie's bosom against her own than she'd ever been before.

But she ignored it as best she could, gave Emmie a tight squeeze, and pulled her head back to state firmly, "Best friends. Right?"

They hugged again, and Clara snagged Emmie's hand to go chase after the others.

Like they were before. Like before. Before.

The words echoed in Emmaline’s head over the next few days. There had been a moment, when it was just her and Clara in that room, when Emmie had been so close to breaching the gap and kissing her friend again. But then those words.

Like they were before.

Before the kiss. Before Emmie had left Clara in a state of confusion. Before Emmie realized that she wanted nothing more than to kiss Clara. Before she understood what it meant to crave something with every fiber of her being.

Maybe Clara had been right to want to go back to the before. After all, Emmie was still with Jake. She still loved Jake. But…Clara.

Clara had been the one to kiss her first. Clara was the one with the photos and videos of Emmaline. Clara was the one who was always touching and snuggling Emmie. Clara was the one who…she was the one who had Emmie confused beyond measure and so twisted up with need and desire that she didn’t know what to do.

Days passed since that moment in the Meeting Room. Days of constant activity as the residents of Underneath learned about their new home and started to get things habitable once more. Residents were given their work assignments. Jake spent his days in mechanical where he worked with an old mechanic buddy Riley Jacobs, the two had worked in the same garage when Jake first started fixing cars. Emmie was assigned to horticulture, where her green thumb was put to use under the watchful eye of Barbara Cooper. Emmie had barely seen Clara at all over those three days, and she didn’t know where her friend was working.

Those days were filled with constant motion and hard work. Each night Emmie and Jake fell into bed, too exhausted to move. The instant their heads hit the pillows they were sound asleep. Their time was eaten up by work and sleep and nothing else. It was the longest the couple had ever gone without fooling around or fucking. And Emmie’s body was starting to feel the frustration. She was on edge, her skin tight and heated, the ache between her legs constant. Her body begged to be touched and caressed and loved. She needed a release, but knew it wasn’t going to come anytime soon.

After a week in Underneath, Emmie finally had an afternoon off. She had spent the morning playing in dirt, working the compost pile and getting the soil ready for planting. All she wanted, now, was a long shower and to curl up in bed. When she tried to turn the shower on in her apartment, however, the water refused to come out. The pipes groaned and clanked in the wall, but the water merely dripped from the shower head.

With a groan, Emmie gathered her things and wandered down to the shower room near the Women’s Berth. Turning on the water, she let it warm as she stripped out of her dirt stained jeans and t-shirt. Her bra and panties fell to the floor with the rest of her clothes and she stepped into the shower with a contented sigh. The warm water soothed her tired muscles, loosening the kinks in her shoulders and back. She closed her eyes, relishing the feel of the water as it slid down her body. Pouring a liberal amount of body wash into the palm of her hand, Emmie began to run her hands over her arms, her breasts. She bit her lip as her palms brushed against her nipples. That felt so good. Her nipples peaked, pressing into her palms. She began to massage her breasts, playing with them slowly. Her stomach twisted in pleasure as a soft moan escaped her lips. Heat rushed between her legs as her right hand slid down her stomach, closer and closer to the light tangle of curls.

26 February 2048:

Clara picked up her cell phone, held it a moment, then set it down again. She picked it up yet again, tapped the screen with the intention of then tapping at the Gallery icon, then grimaced and growled to herself and tossed the device onto the end of her mattress. It bounced awkwardly and fell to the floor.

In an instant panic, Clara scrambled off her rack to find the device. It didn't appear broken and tapping at it quickly she found everything still worked that had been working for the last few years, ever since it stopped being a phone and continued on as solely a recording device.

Clara tapped, tapped, tapped, and tapped again. She found herself staring at the folder in which were hidden, or maybe not so hidden anymore, the intimate photos of her best friend and, of course, that one single most treasured video of her best friend sitting on her bed with knees parted and fingers active between her thighs.

The cute, befreckled little redhead hadn't viewed the pictures or video of her best friend since that incredible and now tragic night of having made out with said best friend. It had once seemed such a private joy to lay back in her bed in North Platte with her phone in one hand and her pussy in the other, masturbating to fantasies that she herself couldn't even understand. Now, after Emmie had learned of the pictures, it felt somehow like a violation of her friend's trust.

Oh, it didn't matter now, of course. Everything had changed.

After deciding that the two of them would go back to just being best friends again and not kissing buddies, Clara had become as busy as Emmie was herself. She'd been assigned to serve Alice Pierce as an assistant and spend most of her waking hours either following the incredible woman around or running off to perform errands for her.

Clara was enjoying her position and her responsibility immensely, and the never-stopping, always on the go nature of it left little time for her to fret over the mistake she had made her first day here, leaning in and giving her best friend a kiss. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that she often caught little glimpses of the intimacy that existed between Alice Pierce and her live-in girl friend, Mimi Rollins, Clara might have even forgotten that she had once had romantic thoughts about her own best friend.

Had once had...

If Clara thought her lustful feelings for Emmie were in the past, she was lying to herself. And if she needed proof of that, she was about to get it.

Over the first week of getting Underneath back in order, Clara had frequently gotten glimpses of her best friend in passing, and often had had the chance to wave or even say hi or ask How are you? But they hadn't had a conversation longer than 10 words, let alone an embrace, since that last hug in the Meeting Rooms on orientation day.

But tonight, as she was doing some arranging in the little home she was still creating in Women's Berthing, Clara looked out through her newly decorated drapes just at the very moment that Emmie was exiting the stairwell from the next level up, heading into Hygiene with her towel, a change of clothes, and her bath bag.

Clara's stomach turned over at the thought of Emmie, the thought of Emmie, undressed, the thought of Emmie undressed and under a stream of water as she caressed soap all over her delicious body.

No. NO! Don't do it!

But Clara couldn't resist. The constantly growing and yet still so misunderstood lust that had been growing within her for the past few years had only continued to grow here in Underneath. And before she knew it, Clara was snatching up her own bathing needs and hurrying toward the entry to the shower rooms.

She stopped just inside the door, hesitating. Her heart was pounding like a bass drum. She looked around for other, but there was only one shower drape closed and there didn't seem to be anyone using a toilet and the sinks were all open, waiting for the women of the bunker to make use of them.

Hesitantly, Clara inched her way toward the closed, plastic drape beyond which she knew her friend was naked and cleaning her hard working body. When she got close enough, Clara peeked through a two inch wide gap between drapery and wall, and her eyes widened in shock. For who knows how long, she just stared with her mouth hanging open as her best friend, the first person she'd ever kissed, the subject of the ever increasing heat within her loins, the incomparably beautiful woman with whom Clara had had so many indecent and taboo fantasies played the fingers of one hand between the meeting place of her thighs as water washed the bubbles and lather of her body down through that gap as well as the one between the firm, athletic cheeks of the most incredible ass in all of Underneath.

The tiled wall was slick against her back as Emmaline leaned against it, bracing herself as she set one foot up on the shower bench. With eyes closed, she lost herself in the feel of her hands on her soapy skin. One hand massaged her breast while the other toyed with her clit, rubbing the sensitive nub in slow circles.

A soft moan echoed in the quiet room as Emmie spread her wet lips, a single finger sinking into her sex. She gasped, pinching her left nipple roughly, as she crooked her finger and massaged the hot, velvet soft walls of her pussy.

“Yes.” She gasped as her thumb pressed into her clit and her finger began to ease slowly in and out.

Her imagination ran wild as she gave herself over to the feeling of hands on her. But it wasn’t Jake she pictured touching and teasing her body.

Emmie’s lithe body shuddered as she pictured Clara in the shower with her, naked. She imagined it was Clara sucking on her nipples. Clara’s finger bringing her closer and closer to climax.

The pace of her finger fucking increased, a second finger joining in. Moans and squeals of pleasure filling the room as Emmie brought herself to the edge.

“Yes! Oh god.” She cried out as her pussy clenched tight around her fingers. Her eyes flew open as the first wave of pleasure crashed over her. “Fuck!” She cried out, gasping.

But Emmie was far from done. She rode the wave into a second as she continued to finger fuck her sloppy wet pussy.

As she fingered herself through the second and into a third orgasm, Emmie’s eyes caught sight of something just behind the shower curtain. Rather, someone. She could just make out Clara’s form. The thought of her friend watching her pleasure herself, took Emmie straight into her third orgasm.

Her knees shook as she slowly pulled her fingers from her sex. Eyes still on the hazy form, Emmie brought her fingers to her lips and sucked them clean, moaning softly as she tasted herself. Running her fingers over her sex once more, Emmie coated them with cum. She moved to suck them clean again, but stopped.

Impulsively, Emmie opened the shower curtain, brining herself face to face with Clara. Without a word, Emmie ran her slick fingers over Clara’s lips before capturing her friend’s lips in a heated kiss.

“I was thinking about you.” She whispered, her tongue flicking against Clara’s lower lip. “I was thinking about you as I came.”
Tongue delving into Clara’s mouth, Emmie pulled her friend into the shower.

Clara couldn't believe that she was watching her best friend masturbate. Not that Emmie was masturbating in the first place, because obviously Clara already knew that. Hell, she had a visual recording of it! No, she couldn't believe that she was simply entranced by what she was seeing and didn't want to look away.

Emmie moaned out loud, “Yes ... Yes! Oh god ... Fuck!” as she continued to work her fingers upon her clit and inside her her pussy. Clara had never had anything inside her before. Sure, she masturbated, even to the video of her erotic best friend. But she'd never inserted anything into her love canal to simulate intercourse because, well, she hadn't really ever thought about it before, but simply put, she had no interest in having some boy's cock shoved into her vagina.

To clarify, it wasn't that Clara was only interested in sex with other girls. Clara was only interested in sex with Emmie! She'd never ogled another female with thoughts of getting up close and personal with that body. Her only ogling of others had been accompanied with thoughts of how those bodies were different and not nearly as inviting as Emmie's.

As she watched her friend's body reacting to the pleasure her fingers were causing, Clara found herself squeezing her thighs tightly together. She wasn't initially conscious of it, until suddenly Emmie cried out in ecstasy at the arrival of her first orgasm. Clara was shocked by her friend's outburst. Emmie hadn't orgasmed in the video held on Clara's phone, even though she'd been deeply into the pleasure of the event.

This was the first time Clara witnessed her friend attaining the highest peak of pleasure, and she found herself simply in awe of what was happening just feet in front of her. It was so beautiful, and Clara wanted to not only have that for her own self but partake of that wonder with her best friend.

And then, without even consciously realizing that Emmie had spied her spying, the shower curtain flew open. Clara flinched, stepping back just slightly in fear but otherwise only standing there statue like, unsure of what she was supposed to do but knowing that she didn't want to leave.

Emmie looked her right in the eyes, then reached her fingers upward. Clara didn't pull away, and a moment later her lips were wet. Instinctively, she licked at them.
It was a taste she'd never known during her own masturbatory moments.

Suddenly, her naked, wet friend was embracing her in a hug and an erotic kiss. Emmie whispered to her, “I was thinking about you.”

Clara didn't immediately understand, despite her own uncountable moments of masturbating to fantasies of being with Emmie. Her friend clarified, “I was thinking about you as I came.”

Clara didn't know what to say, but she smiled all the same. Then, she was overcome by lust, dropped all of her things straight down to the now wet floor, took Emmie's face into her hands, and pulled their mouths together for a long, passionate kiss.

"I wanna do that with you," Clara begged, meaning get naked and touch and cum and simply enjoy life as she never had with Emmie before despite all the fantasies. She begged, "Please, Emmie. I want to do that with you."

Clara’s soft pleading, the eager way her lips responded to the kiss, drove Emmie to do things she’d never thought she’d do. She pushed Clara under the warm water, pressing her up against the slick wall. Her hand tracing the gentle curve of Clara’s hip and side, moving up slowly to cup her left breast. Emmie’s lips rained fevered kisses over Clara’s mouth and neck. Her tongue traced the hollow curve of her friend’s throat, tasting the water that beaded there mixed with the undertone of salty skin.

Water poured over the pair, doing nothing to cool their ardor. Steam swallowed them.

Emmie kissed down Clara’s freckled neck, moving between the valley of her breasts. She kissed the top of each breast, her hands cupping the plump flesh. Her thumbs teased the pert nipples as she moved back to kiss Clara passionately.

“I want you.” Emmie’s voice was a hoarse, lusty whisper. Her right hand trailing down the soft stomach to stop right at the top of tangle of curls covering Clara’s sex. Emmie hesitated, doing this would change everything. But Emmie wasn’t ready for things to change. Or was she?

“If we do this,” she whispered, her voice raw with everything unsaid, “I need you to know that I’m still with Jake.” She couldn’t meet Clara’s eyes, afraid of what she would see there. “I need you to understand that you’re still my best friend and he’s still my boyfriend.”

Forcing herself to finally meet Clara’s gaze, Emmie felt the need to be touch and be touched gnawing at her.

“I want this. I want you. I want to taste you and to make you cum.” Emmie pressed a finger against Clara’s clit. “But if you can’t agree to this, we have to stop. Now.”

Clara couldn't believe this was happening. No, that wasn't true. She couldn't believe that this was finally happening. Deep in her fantasies, she'd always believed that one day she and her best friend ever would find intimate joy in one another's arms. Of course, those had just been fantasies. And yet.

“I want you.”

"I want you, too," Clara whispered with eagerness and anxiety. She was so naive and ignorant that she didn't honestly know how wanting Emmie became having Emmie.

“If we do this,” her friend whispered, “I need you to know that I’m still with Jake.”

Clara looked down with a look of shock. She hadn't considered this until now for whatever reason, likely the innocent hope that Emmie would finally be hers and only hers and that Jake would finally be out of the picture.

“I need you to understand that you’re still my best friend and he’s still my boyfriend.”

Clara wasn't excited about this, of course, but her body was fired up with a lust she'd never known, and her mind was screaming at her Take what you can and figure the rest out later! It's Emmie! It's your Emmie! She wants you, you want her.

“I want this. I want you.”

Clara drew a deep breath of excitement at those words.

“I want to taste you and to make you cum.”

Clara tensed at the feel of her friend's finger upon the most sensitive part of her young, inexperienced body. She gave out a soft cry of pleasured surprise, looking down with awe at her friend.

“But if you can’t agree to this, we have to stop. Now.”

Clara didn't hesitate. She reached a hand down to Emmie's and urged it further into the space between her trembling thighs. "I want you, Emmie. Oh God, I want you. I agree. I agree!"